Hermosillo International Airport

Hermosillo International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de Hermosillo); officially Aeropuerto Internacional General Ignacio L. Pesqueira (General Ignacio L. Pesqueira International Airport) (IATA: HMO, ICAO: MMHO), is an international airport situated in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. It handles both national and international air traffic for the Hermosillo metropolitan area. It also houses military facilities for the Mexican Army and supports logistics and cargo airlines. Additionally, it facilitates various activities related to tourism, flight training, and general aviation. It functions as a focus city for the regional airline TAR Aerolíneas.

The airport’s operations are managed by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, and it is named after Ignacio L. Pesqueira, a former Governor of Sonora. In 2023, it ranked as the busiest airport in Sonora and the thirteenth-largest in Mexico, serving 2,189,800 passengers and surpassing the 2-million threshold for the first time.

History

Passenger terminal airside
The current airport was inaugurated in 1982 to replace the former airfield previously located in an area known as La Manga. Hermosillo has a historical significance as a commercial aviation hub, particularly for Aeromexico. Starting in the 1940s, it served as a connecting point for cities in northwestern Mexico and Arizona, including Tijuana, La Paz, Chihuahua, Torreón, Nogales, Ciudad Obregón, Guaymas, Cananea, Tucson, and Phoenix.

During the 1990s and 2000s, Aerolitoral, now known as Aeroméxico Connect, operated a hub out of Hermosillo for many years. This hub connected cities across Mexico and also offered flights to U.S. cities such as Los Angeles and Phoenix. However, it was eventually downsized to a focus city and ultimately closed in 2017.

From 1988 to 1999, the airport served as the headquarters and hub for the regional airline Aviación del Noroeste. In the early 2000s, the airport’s runway and taxiways were widened to accommodate wide-body aircraft that might need to divert, such as Aeromexico’s Boeing 787 on several occasions.